5PM Saturday - Li’l Tommy

Rehearsal for the WATCH Awards: Saturday afternoon

Li’l Tommy runs to me as I kneel for a hug.

“Oh, it’s so good to see you,” I say. “How have you been?”

“Know what I got at the birthday party?” he asks as he hugs me with his cheek on my shoulder. “I got a candy jump rope with a whistle!”

He is five, cherubic with golden orange hair.

Mrs. Walker (my co-star) arrives, rushing, laughing, pulling a fedora off her head and shaking out her beautiful dark hair. She is glamorous in a black and leopard print that leaves no doubt; she owns six-pack abs.

I carry Li’l Tommy as I explain the blocking.

“[Mrs. Walker] will take off your coat, and you walk right to the mirror. This time the mirror is going to be a pretend mirror and it will be in front of the audience. Can you do that?”

Confidently, he nods.

“Then she’s going to take you over to that chair, ok? And you stay still until just after the part where we start singing together. After we start singing together, when we sing the phrase ‘. . . patience is gone,’ you go back to the mirror. Ok? ‘Patience is gone,’ you go.’ Do you want to try that much?”

He is the only person to receive a performance nomination for Tommy; Outstanding cameo in a musical.

He hits his marks, as we sing. Beginning the duet, looking into Mrs. Walker’s bright eyes and smile, our eyes tear and we choke up, but we keep singing through the phrase “patience is gone” and Li’l Tommy moves from the chair to the mirror, interrupting our kiss as planned. Perfect.